Systems and methods for determining transmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of determining transmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a method performed by a wireless device (105, 200, 300a-b, 500, 605) in a wireless communications system (100) comprises transmitting or receiving (403) a first signal of a first type (113) using a first transmitter or receiver configuration based on a first quasi co-location (QCL) assumption (121) associating the first signal with a first reference signal (111) received by the wireless device. Further, the method includes transmitting or receiving (407) a second signal of a second type (117) using a second transmitter or receiver configuration based on a second QCL assumption (123) associating the second signal with a second reference signal (115) received by the wireless device.

PRIORITY

This nonprovisional application is a U.S. National Stage Filing under 35U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application Serial No.PCT/SE2018/050302 filed Mar. 23 2018, and entitled “Systems and MethodsFor Determining Transmitter And Receiver Configurations For A WirelessDevice” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/476,657 filed Mar. 24, 2017, both of which are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of communications,and in particular to determining transmitter and receiver configurationsfor a wireless device.

BACKGROUND

In 5th Generation mobile networks or wireless systems (5G) or 5G NewRadio (NR), spatial quasi co-location (QCL) has been introduced as a newconcept. Two transmitted reference signals from a transmitter (e.g.,base station) are said to be spatially QCL at a receiver (e.g., UE orterminal) if the receiving spatial characteristics of the two receivedreference signals are the same or similar. Spatial characteristics maybe one or more of the primary angle of arrival, the receiving angularspread of the signal, the spatial correlation, or any other parameter ordefinition that captures spatial characteristics. The two referencesignals are sometimes denoted equivalently as being transmitted/receivedfrom/by two different antenna ports. If two transmitting antenna portsof a gNB (e.g., base station) are spatially QCL at the UE, the UE mayuse the same receiving (RX) beamforming weights to receive both thefirst and second reference signals.

The use of spatial QCL is of particular importance when the UE usesanalog beamforming, since the UE has to know where to direct the analogbeam before receiving the signal. Hence, for 5G NR, it is possible tosignal from gNB to UE that a certain previously transmitted channelstate information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource or CSI-RS antennaport is spatially QCL with a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)transmission and the PDSCH's demodulation reference signal (DMRS)transmission. With this information, the UE may use the same analog beamfor the PDSCH reception as it used in the reception of the previousCSI-RS resource or antenna port.

The spatial QCL framework may also be extended to hold for transmissionsfrom the UE. In this case, the transmitted signal from the UE isspatially QCL with a previous reception of a signal received by the UE.If the UE makes this assumption for the transmission, it means that theUE is transmitting back a signal in an analog transmit (TX) beam whichis the same or similar to the RX beam previously used to receive asignal. Hence, the first Reference Signal (RS) transmitted from the gNBis spatially QCL at the UE with a second RS transmitted from the UE backto the gNB. This is useful in case the gNB uses analog beamforming sincethe gNB then knows from which direction to expect a transmission fromthe UE and may therefore adjust its beam direction just before theactual reception.

In 5G NR, a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondarysynchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), andpossibly a tertiary synchronization signal (TSS) will be used in asynchronization signal (SS) block. The SS block will likely span fourorthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) symbols. Multiples ofsuch SS blocks may be transmitted on different beams in differentbeamforming directions, and thus each SS block may benefit from theantenna gain of the corresponding beam. The drawback is that multiple SSblocks require multiples of four OFDM symbols to be used to cover thewhole gNB area with such beams. Further, the narrower the beam, thebetter the coverage per beam but the larger the overhead fromtransmitting SS blocks. Hence, there is a tradeoff between coverage andoverhead. Also, SS block beams are wider than data beams, which may bevery narrow to provide very high antenna gain in order to maximize thesignal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) at the receiver.

Furthermore, existing air interface solutions do not provide robustcommunications between a UE and a gNB when utilizing narrow beamformingsuch as in the millimeter wave frequencies. This is even more apparentwith analog beamforming that requires knowing where to direct a beam.Since beams are very narrow (e.g., down to a few degrees in beam width)failure to direct this narrow beam in the right direction may lead toloss in connection and interruption in data throughput. Also, the UE mayneed to direct the beam in a robust manner when receivingsynchronization signals and broadcast signals (e.g., common search spacephysical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) or transmitting physicalrandom access channel (PRACH) or beam recovery signals while at the sametime receiving and transmitting dedicated signals that require high gainor narrow beams (e.g., PDSCH, physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH),and UE-specific search space PDCCH). In addition, the UE may need to setthe UE beam direction without dedicated beam indication signaling fromgNB to UE. In an NR system, there is also a need to transmit both narrowand wide width beams, where narrow beams may be used for thetransmission of unicast messages while wide beams may be used for thetransmission of multicast or broadcast messages.

Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device. Inaddition, other desirable features and characteristics of the presentdisclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed descriptionand embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures andthe foregoing technical field and background.

The Background section of this document is provided to place embodimentsof the present disclosure in technological and operational context, toassist those of skill in the art in understanding their scope andutility. Unless explicitly identified as such, no statement herein isadmitted to be prior art merely by its inclusion in the Backgroundsection.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in orderto provide a basic understanding to those of skill in the art. Thissummary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and is notintended to identify key/critical elements of embodiments of thedisclosure or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The sole purposeof this summary is to present some concepts disclosed herein in asimplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that ispresented later.

Systems and method of determining transmitter and receiverconfigurations for a wireless device are presented herein. According toone aspect, a method performed by a wireless device in a wirelesscommunications system comprises transmitting or receiving, by thewireless device, a first signal of a first type using a firsttransmitter or receiver configuration based on a first QCL assumptionassociating the first signal with a first reference signal received bythe wireless device. Further, the method includes transmitting orreceiving, by the wireless device, a second signal of a second typeusing a second transmitter or receiver configuration based on a secondQCL assumption associating the second signal with a second referencesignal received by the wireless device.

According to another aspect, the first reference signal is a broadcastedreference signal and the second reference signal is a UE-specificconfigured reference signal.

According to another aspect, the broadcasted reference signal is areference signal in an SS block and the UE-specific reference signal isa CSI-RS.

According to another aspect, the first signal is a common signal and thesecond signal is a UE-specific signal.

According to another aspect, the first and second signals areUE-specific signals.

According to another aspect, the first reference signal is a referencesignal in a preferred SS block and the first signal is a common searchspace or a group common search space of a PDCCH.

According to another aspect, the second reference signal is a CSI-RS andthe second signal is a DMRS for a UE-specific search space of a PDCCH.

According to another aspect, the second reference signal is a CSI-RS andthe second signal is a UE-specific search space of a PDCCH.

According to another aspect, the second reference signal is an RS in apreferred SS block and the second signal is a PRACH signal or a beamfailure recovery signal.

According to another aspect, the first reference signal is a referencesignal in a preferred SS block and the first signal is a UE-specificsearch space of a PDCCH.

According to another aspect, the second reference signal is a CSI-RS andthe second signal is a PUSCH signal.

According to another aspect, the second reference signal is a CSI-RS andthe second signal is a PDSCH.

According to another aspect, the second reference signal is a CSI-RS andthe second signal is a PUCCH signal.

According to another aspect, the first receiver configurationcorresponds to a beam direction used to receive the first referencesignal.

According to another aspect, the second transmitter or receiverconfiguration corresponds to a beam direction used to receive the secondreference signal.

According to another aspect, the method includes determining the firsttransmitter or receiver configuration based on the first QCL assumption.

According to another aspect, the step of determining the firsttransmitter or receiver configuration includes determining a transmitprecoder or receive beamforming weights to enable the transmission orreception of the first signal based on receive beamforming weights thatenabled the reception of the first reference signal.

According to another aspect, the method includes determining the secondtransmitter or receiver configuration based on the second QCLassumption.

According to another aspect, the step of determining the secondtransmitter or receiver configuration includes determining a transmitprecoder or receive beamforming weights to enable the transmission orreception of the second signal based on receive beamforming weights thatenabled the reception of the second reference signal.

According to another aspect, the QCL assumption is a spatial QCLassumption.

According to another aspect, the method includes receiving, by thewireless device, from a network node, an indication of the first orsecond QCL assumption.

According to another aspect, the step of receiving the indication is byat least one of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium accesscontrol control element (MAC-CE) signaling, and downlink controlinformation (DCI) signaling.

According to another aspect, the first or second QCL assumption is aspatial relation between a reference signal reception by a wirelessdevice and a transmission of a signal of a certain type by that wirelessdevice or a QCL reference between a reference signal reception by awireless device and a reception of a signal of a certain type by thatwireless device.

According to another aspect, the method includes receiving, by thewireless device, the first and second reference signals.

According to another aspect, the wireless device is a UE.

Accordingly to one aspect, a wireless device is configured to transmitor receive a first signal of a first type using a first transmitter orreceiver configuration based on a first QCL assumption associating thefirst signal with a first reference signal received by the wirelessdevice. Further, the wireless device is configured to transmit orreceive a second signal of a second type using a second transmitter orreceiver configuration based on a second QCL assumption associating thesecond signal with a second reference signal received by the wirelessdevice.

Accordingly to one aspect, a wireless device comprises at least oneprocessor and a memory. Further, the memory comprises instructionsexecutable by the at least one processor whereby the wireless device isconfigured to transmit or receive a first signal of a first type using afirst transmitter or receiver configuration based on a first QCLassumption associating the first signal with a first reference signalreceived by the wireless device. Further, the wireless device isconfigured to transmit or receive a second signal of a second type usinga second transmitter or receiver configuration based on a second QCLassumption associating the second signal with a second reference signalreceived by the wireless device.

Accordingly to one aspect, a wireless device comprises atransmitting/receiving module for transmitting or receiving a firstsignal of a first type using a first transmitter or receiverconfiguration based on a first QCL assumption associating the firstsignal with a first reference signal received by the wireless device.Further, the transmitting/receiving module is configured fortransmitting or receiving a second signal of a second type using asecond transmitter or receiver configuration based on a second QCLassumption associating the second signal with a second reference signalreceived by the wireless device.

Accordingly to one aspect, a method performed by a wireless device in awireless communications system, comprises obtaining one of a pluralityof QCL assumptions, with each assumption associating a certain referencesignal reception by a wireless device with a transmission or receptionof a signal of a certain type by that wireless device. Further, themethod includes transmitting or receiving a signal of a certain typeusing a transmitter or receiver configuration based on the received QCLassumption that associates that signal with a reference signal receivedby the wireless device.

According to another aspect, the step of obtaining includes receiving,from a network node, an indication of the one of the plurality of QCLassumptions.

According to another aspect, the indication includes a subset of QCLparameters. In one example, a set of QCL parameters includes averagegain, average delay, delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, andspatial parameter.

According to one aspect, a wireless device is configured to obtain oneof a plurality of QCL assumptions, with each assumption associating acertain reference signal reception by a wireless device with atransmission or reception of a signal of a certain type by that wirelessdevice. Further, the wireless device is configured to transmit orreceive a signal of a certain type using a transmitter or receiverconfiguration based on the received QCL assumption that associates thatsignal with a reference signal received by the wireless device.

According to one aspect, a wireless device comprises at least oneprocessor and a memory. Further, the memory comprises instructionsexecutable by the at least one processor whereby the wireless device isconfigured to obtain one of a plurality of QCL assumptions, with eachassumption associating a certain reference signal reception by awireless device with a transmission or reception of a signal of acertain type by that wireless device. Also, the wireless device isconfigured to transmit or receive a signal of a certain type using atransmitter or receiver configuration based on the received QCLassumption that associates that signal with a reference signal receivedby the wireless device.

According to one aspect, a wireless device comprises a QCL assumptionobtaining module for obtaining one of a plurality of QCL assumptions.Further, each assumption associates a certain reference signal receptionby a wireless device with a transmission or reception of a signal of acertain type by that wireless device. Also, the wireless device includesa transmitting/receiving module for transmitting or receiving a signalof a certain type using a transmitter or receiver configuration based onthe received QCL assumption that associates that signal with a referencesignal transmitted to the wireless device.

Accordingly to one aspect, a computer program, comprising instructionswhich, when executed on at least one processor of a wireless device,cause the at least one processor to carry out any of the methodsdescribed herein. Further, a carrier contains the computer program withthe carrier being one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radiosignal, or computer readable storage medium.

According to one aspect, a method performed by a network node in awireless communications system comprises obtaining one of a plurality ofQCL assumptions for a wireless device. Also, each assumption associatesa certain reference signal reception by a wireless device with atransmission or reception of a signal of a certain type by that wirelessdevice. The method includes transmitting, to the wireless device, anindication of the obtained QCL assumption.

According to another aspect, the step of obtaining includes determiningthe one of the plurality of QCL assumptions for the wireless device.

According to another aspect, the method includes transmitting orreceiving, to or from the wireless device, a signal of a certain typebased on the obtained QCL assumption that associates that signal with areference signal transmitted by the network node to the wireless device.

According to another aspect, the plurality of QCL assumptions includesat least one of a spatial relation between a reference signal receptionby a wireless device and a transmission of a signal of a certain type bythat wireless device and a QCL reference between a reference signalreception by a wireless device and a reception of a signal of a certaintype by that wireless device.

According to one aspect, a network node is configured to obtain one of aplurality of quasi co-location (QCL) assumptions for a wireless device,with each assumption associating a certain reference signal reception bya wireless device with a transmission or reception of a signal of acertain type by that wireless device. Further, the network node isconfigured to transmit, to the wireless device, an indication of theobtained QCL assumption.

According to one aspect, a network node comprises at least one processorand a memory. Also, the memory comprises instructions executable by theat least one processor whereby the network node is configured to obtainone of a plurality of QCL assumptions for a wireless device. Further,each assumption associates a certain reference signal reception by awireless device with a transmission or reception of a signal of acertain type by that wireless device. In addition, the network node isconfigured to transmit, to the wireless device, an indication of theobtained QCL assumption.

According to one aspect, a network node comprises a QCL assumptionobtaining module for obtaining one of a plurality of QCL assumptions fora wireless device. Each assumption associates a certain reference signalreception by a wireless device with a transmission or reception of asignal of a certain type by that wireless device. Further, the networknode includes a transmitting module for transmitting, to the wirelessdevice, an indication of the obtained QCL assumption.

According to one aspect, a computer program comprises instructionswhich, when executed on at least one processor of a network node, causethe at least one processor to carry out any of the methods describedherein. Further, a carrier may contain the computer program with thecarrier being one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal,or computer readable storage medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, on which embodiments of thedisclosure are shown. However, this disclosure should not be construedas limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough andcomplete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to thoseskilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a system for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device inaccordance with various aspects as described herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a wireless device in accordancewith various aspects as described herein.

FIGS. 3A-B illustrate other embodiments of a wireless device inaccordance with various aspects as described herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a method for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device in awireless communication system in accordance with various aspects asdescribed herein.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of a wireless device in accordancewith various aspects as described herein.

FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of a method for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device in awireless communication system in accordance with various aspects asdescribed herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of a method for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device in awireless communication system in accordance with various aspects asdescribed herein.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a network node 800 as implementedin accordance with various embodiments as described herein.

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of anetwork node in a wireless network in accordance various embodiments asdescribed herein.

FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of a method performed by a networknode for selecting a cell for transmitting control information inaccordance with various embodiments as described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the present disclosure isdescribed by referring mainly to an exemplary embodiment thereof. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However,it will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that thepresent disclosure may be practiced without limitation to these specificdetails. In this description, well known methods and structures have notbeen described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the presentdisclosure.

This disclosure includes describing systems and methods for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device. Forexample, FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a system 100 fordetermining transmitter and receiver configurations for a wirelessdevice in accordance with various aspects as described herein. In FIG.1, the system 100 may include a network node 101 (e.g., base stationsuch as a gNB) and a wireless device 105 (e.g., UE). The network node101 may include one or more antenna ports 103 (e.g., antenna array,transmission/reception points (TRP), or the like) that may transmit afirst reference signal 111 (e.g., a broadcasted reference signal such asan SS block). The wireless device 105 may receive the first referencesignal 111 using a certain receiver configuration (e.g., receivebeamforming weights, receive spatial filtering weights, or the like).Further, the network node 101 may transmit or receive a first signal ofa first type 113 (e.g., a common signal such as a common search space ora group common search space of a PDCCH). The wireless device 105 (e.g.,UE) may transmit or receive the first signal of the first type 113 usinga first transmitter configuration (e.g., transmit beamforming weights)or a first receiver configuration (e.g., receive beamforming weights)that is based on a first QCL assumption 121 associating the first signal113 with the first reference signal 111 received by the wireless device105. The transmit beamforming weights may also be referred to as atransmit precoder, transmit spatial filtering weights, or the like.Also, the receive beamforming weights may also be referred to as receivespatial filtering weights.

Furthermore, the wireless device 105 may determine the first receiverconfiguration based on the first QCL assumption 121. QCL may also bereferred to as spatial QCL, reciprocal QCL, or the like. Further, QCLmay be associated with a transmission or reception of a signal that isin a same beam direction as a transmission or reception of anothersignal. For instance, a QCL assumption may be a spatial relation betweena reception of a reference signal (e.g., SS block, CSI-RS, or the like)by a wireless device and a transmission of a signal of a certain type(e.g., PDSCH, common or UE-specific PDCCH, PUCCH, PUSCH, or the like) bythat wireless device. In another example, a QCL assumption may be a QCLreference between a reception of a reference signal by a wireless deviceand a reception of a signal of a certain type by that wireless device.In one example, a first reference signal is an SS block and the firstsignal is a UE-specific PDCCH with the second reference signal being aCSI-RS and the second signal being a PUCCH. In another example, a firstreference signal is an SS block and the first signal is a UE-specificPDCCH with the second reference signal being a CSI-RS and the secondsignal being a PUSCH. The first receiver configuration may correspond toa same beam direction used to receive the first reference signal 111.The wireless device 105 may determine the first receiver configurationto enable the reception of the first signal 113 in a same beam directionas used to receive the first reference signal 111. For instance, thewireless device 105 may determine receive beamforming weights to enablethe reception of the first signal 113 based on receive beamformingweights that enabled the reception of the first reference signal 111.

In this embodiment, the network node 101 may transmit a second referencesignal 115 (e.g., a UE-specific configured reference signal). AUE-specific configured reference signal may be a CSI-RS, an RS in apreferred SS block, or the like. The wireless device 105 may receive thesecond reference signal 115 using a certain receiver configuration(e.g., receiver beamforming weights). Further, the network node 101 maytransmit a second signal of a second type 117 (e.g., a UE-specificsignal). A UE-specific signal may be a DMRS for a UE-specific searchspace of a PDCCH, a UE-specific search space of a PDCCH, a PRACH signalor a beam failure recovery signal, a PUSCH signal, a PDSCH, or the like.The wireless device 105 (e.g., UE) may receive the second signal of thesecond type 117 using a second receiver configuration (e.g., receiverbeamforming weights) that is based on a second QCL assumption 123associating the second signal 117 with the second reference signal 115received by the wireless device 105. The wireless device 105 maydetermine the second receiver configuration based on the second QCLassumption 123. The second receiver configuration may correspond to asame beam direction used to receive the second reference signal 115. Thewireless device 105 may determine the second receiver configuration toenable the reception of the second signal 117 in a same beam directionas used to receive the second reference signal 115. For instance, thewireless device 105 may determine receive beamforming weights to enablethe reception of the second signal 117 based on receive beamformingweights that enabled the reception of the second reference signal 115.

In another embodiment, the network node 101 may obtain or determine oneof a plurality of QCL assumptions 121, 123 for the wireless device 105.Each QCL assumption 121, 123 associates the certain reference signalreception 111, 115 by the wireless device 105 with the transmission orreception of the signal of the certain type 113, 117 by that wirelessdevice 105. Further, the network node 101 transmits, to the wirelessdevice 105, an indication of the determined QCL assumption 121, 123. Thewireless device 105 receives this indication and then transmits orreceives the signal of the certain type 113, 117 using the transmitteror receiver configuration based on the received QCL assumption 121, 123that associates that signal 113, 117 with the reference signal 111, 115received by the wireless device 105.

Additionally or alternatively, the network node 101 may be configured tosupport a wireless communication system (e.g., NR, LTE, LTE-NR, UMTS,GSM, or the like). Further, the network node 101 may be a base station(e.g., eNB, gNB), an access point, a wireless router, or the like. Thenetwork node 101 may serve wireless devices such as wireless device 105.The wireless device 105 may be configured to support a wirelesscommunication system (e.g., NR, LTE, LTE-NR, UMTS, GSM, or the like).The wireless device 105 may be a UE, a mobile station (MS), a terminal,a cellular phone, a cellular handset, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a smartphone, a wireless phone, an organizer, a handheldcomputer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, aset-top box, a television, an appliance, a game device, a medicaldevice, a display device, a metering device, or the like.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a wireless device 200 in accordancewith various aspects as described herein. In FIG. 2, the wireless device200 may include a receiver circuit 201, a receiver configurationdetermination circuit 203, a transmitter circuit 205, a transmitterconfiguration determination circuit 207, a QCL assumption obtainercircuit 209, the like, or any combination thereof. The receiverconfiguration determination circuit 203 may be configured to determine afirst receiver configuration based on a first QCL assumption associatinga first signal of a first type with a first reference signal received bythe wireless device. The receiver circuit 201 may be configured toreceive the first signal of the first type using the first receiverconfiguration based on the first QCL assumption. The receiverconfiguration determination circuit 203 may also be configured todetermine a second receiver configuration based on a second QCLassumption associating a second signal of a second type with a secondreference signal received by the wireless device 200. The receivercircuit 201 may also be configured to receive the second signal of thesecond type using the second receiver configuration based on the secondQCL assumption. In addition, the transmitter configuration determinationcircuit 207 may be configured to determine a second transmitterconfiguration based on the second QCL assumption. The transmittercircuit 205 may be configured to transmit the first signal of the firsttype using the first transmitter configuration based on the first QCLassumption. The transmitter circuit 205 may also be configured totransmit the second signal of the second type using the secondtransmitter configuration based on the second QCL assumption. The QCLassumption obtainer circuit 209 may be configured to obtain one of aplurality of QCL assumptions. The receive circuit 201 may also beconfigured to receive an indication of the one of the plurality of QCLassumptions.

FIGS. 3A-B illustrate other embodiments of a wireless device 300 a-b inaccordance with various aspects as described herein. In FIG. 3A, thewireless device 300 a (e.g., UE) may include processing circuit(s) 301a, radio frequency (RF) communications circuit(s) 305 a, antenna(s) 307a, the like, or any combination thereof. The communication circuit(s)305 a may be configured to transmit or receive information to or fromone or more network nodes via any communication technology. Thiscommunication may occur using the one or more antennas 307 a that areeither internal or external to the wireless device 300 a. The processingcircuit(s) 301 a may be configured to perform processing as describedherein (e.g., the methods of FIGS. 4, 6, and 7) such as by executingprogram instructions stored in memory 303 a. The processing circuit(s)301 a in this regard may implement certain functional means, units, ormodules.

In FIG. 3B, the wireless device 300 b may implement various functionalmeans, units, or modules (e.g., via the processing circuit(s) 301 a inFIG. 3A or via software code). These functional means, units, or modules(e.g., for implementing the methods of FIGS. 4, 6, and 7) may include atransmitting/receiving unit or module 311 b for transmitting/receiving asignal of a certain type using a transmitter/receiver configurationbased on a first QCL assumption associating the signal with a referencesignal received by the wireless device. Further, these functional means,units, or modules may include a receiver configuration determinationunit or module 313 b for determining a receiver configuration based on aQCL assumption. Also, these functional means, units, or modules mayinclude a transmitter configuration determining unit or module 315 b fordetermining a transmitter configuration based on a QCL assumption.Finally, these functional means, units, or modules may include a QCLassumption obtaining module 317 b for obtain one of a plurality of QCLassumptions.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a method 400 for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device in awireless communication system in accordance with various aspects asdescribed herein. The wireless device performing this method 400 maycorrespond to any of the wireless devices 105, 200, 300 a, 300 b, 500,605 described herein. In FIG. 4, the method 400 may start, for instance,at block 401 where it may include receiving, from a network node, anindication of a first or second QCL assumption. Further, the method 400may include receiving first and second reference signals, as referencedby block 403. At block 405, the method 400 may include determining afirst receiver configuration based on a first QCL assumption associatinga first signal of a first type with the first reference signal receivedby the wireless device. At block 407, the method 400 includestransmitting or receiving the first signal of the first type using thefirst transmitter or receiver configuration based on the first QCLassumption. At block 409, the method 400 may include determining asecond transmitter or receiver configuration based on a second QCLassumption associating a second signal of a second type with the secondreference signal received by the wireless device. At block 411, themethod 400 includes transmitting or receiving the second signal of thesecond type using the second transmitter or receiver configuration basedon the second QCL assumption.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of a wireless device in accordancewith various aspects as described herein. In some instances, thewireless device 500 may be referred as a UE, an MS, a terminal, acellular phone, a cellular handset, a PDA, a smartphone, a wirelessphone, an organizer, a handheld computer, a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a set-top box, a television, an appliance,a game device, a medical device, a display device, a metering device, orsome other like terminology. In other instances, the wireless device 500may be a set of hardware components. In FIG. 5, the wireless device 500may be configured to include a processor 501 that is operatively coupledto an input/output interface 505, a radio frequency (RF) interface 509,a network connection interface 511, a memory 515 including a randomaccess memory (RAM) 517, a read only memory (ROM) 519, a storage medium531 or the like, a communication subsystem 551, a power source 533,another component, or any combination thereof. The storage medium 531may include an operating system 533, an application program 535, data537, or the like. Specific devices may utilize all of the componentsshown in FIG. 5, or only a subset of the components, and levels ofintegration may vary from device to device. Further, specific devicesmay contain multiple instances of a component, such as multipleprocessors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc. Forinstance, a computing device may be configured to include a processorand a memory.

In FIG. 5, the processor 501 may be configured to process computerinstructions and data. The processor 501 may be configured as anysequential state machine operative to execute machine instructionsstored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory, such as oneor more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic,FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriatefirmware; one or more stored-program, general-purpose processors, suchas a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together withappropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, theprocessor 501 may include two computer processors. In one definition,data is information in a form suitable for use by a computer. It isimportant to note that a person having ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that the subject matter of this disclosure may be implementedusing various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

In the current embodiment, the input/output interface 505 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to an input device,output device, or input and output device. The wireless device 500 maybe configured to use an output device via the input/output interface505. A person of ordinary skill will recognize that an output device mayuse the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, aUSB port may be used to provide input to and output from the wirelessdevice 500. The output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a videocard, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, asmartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. Thewireless device 500 may be configured to use an input device via theinput/output interface 505 to allow a user to capture information intothe wireless device 500. The input device may include a mouse, atrackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a presence-sensitive inputdevice, a display such as a presence-sensitive display, a scroll wheel,a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, a microphone, asensor, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive input devicemay include a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, amicrophone, a sensor, or the like to sense input from a user. Thepresence-sensitive input device may be combined with the display to forma presence-sensitive display. Further, the presence-sensitive inputdevice may be coupled to the processor. The sensor may be, for instance,an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, amagnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another likesensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may bean accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and anoptical sensor.

In FIG. 5, the RF interface 509 may be configured to provide acommunication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, areceiver, and an antenna. The network connection interface 511 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to a network 543 a. Thenetwork 543 a may encompass wired and wireless communication networkssuch as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), acomputer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network,another like network or any combination thereof. For example, thenetwork 543 a may be a Wi-Fi network. The network connection interface511 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interfaceused to communicate with one or more other nodes over a communicationnetwork according to one or more communication protocols known in theart or that may be developed, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, orthe like. The network connection interface 511 may implement receiverand transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication networklinks (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter andreceiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware,or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In this embodiment, the RAM 517 may be configured to interface via thebus 503 to the processor 501 to provide storage or caching of data orcomputer instructions during the execution of software programs such asthe operating system, application programs, and device drivers. In oneexample, the wireless device 500 may include at least one hundred andtwenty-eight megabytes (128 Mbytes) of RAM. The ROM 519 may beconfigured to provide computer instructions or data to the processor501. For example, the ROM 519 may be configured to be invariantlow-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basicinput and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from akeyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. The storage medium531 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magneticdisks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges,flash drives. In one example, the storage medium 531 may be configuredto include an operating system 533, an application program 535 such as aweb browser application, a widget or gadget engine or anotherapplication, and a data file 537.

In FIG. 5, the processor 501 may be configured to communicate with anetwork 543 b using the communication subsystem 551. The network 543 aand the network 543 b may be the same network or networks or differentnetwork or networks. The communication subsystem 551 may be configuredto include one or more transceivers used to communicate with the network543 b. The one or more transceivers may be used to communicate with oneor more remote transceivers of another wireless device such as a basestation of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or morecommunication protocols known in the art or that may be developed, suchas IEEE 802.xx, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, NR, NB IoT, UTRAN, WiMax, or thelike.

In another example, the communication subsystem 551 may be configured toinclude one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or moreremote transceivers of another wireless device such as user equipmentaccording to one or more communication protocols known in the art orthat may be developed, such as IEEE 802.xx, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, NR,NB IoT, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include atransmitter 553 or a receiver 555 to implement transmitter or receiverfunctionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g.,frequency allocations and the like). Further, the transmitter 553 andthe receiver 555 of each transceiver may share circuit components,software, or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In the current embodiment, the communication functions of thecommunication subsystem 551 may include data communication, voicecommunication, multimedia communication, short-range communications suchas Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communicationsuch as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine alocation, another like communication function, or any combinationthereof. For example, the communication subsystem 551 may includecellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication,and GPS communication. The network 543 b may encompass wired andwireless communication networks such as a local-area network (LAN), awide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, atelecommunications network, another like network or any combinationthereof. For example, the network 543 b may be a cellular network, aWi-Fi network, and a near-field network. The power source 513 may beconfigured to provide an alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC)power to components of the wireless device 500.

In FIG. 5, the storage medium 531 may be configured to include a numberof physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks(RAID), a floppy disk drive, a flash memory, a USB flash drive, anexternal hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, ahigh-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, aninternal hard disk drive, a Blu-Ray optical disc drive, a holographicdigital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, an external mini-dualin-line memory module (DIMM) synchronous dynamic random access memory(SDRAM), an external micro-DIMM SDRAM, a smartcard memory such as asubscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM)module, other memory, or any combination thereof. The storage medium 531may allow the wireless device 500 to access computer-executableinstructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory ornon-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. Anarticle of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system maybe tangibly embodied in storage medium 531, which may comprise acomputer-readable medium.

The functionality of the methods described herein may be implemented inone of the components of the wireless device 500 or partitioned acrossmultiple components of the wireless device 500. Further, thefunctionality of the methods described herein may be implemented in anycombination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, thecommunication subsystem 551 may be configured to include any of thecomponents described herein. Further, the processor 501 may beconfigured to communicate with any of such components over the bus 503.In another example, any of such components may be represented by programinstructions stored in memory that when executed by the processor 501performs the corresponding functions described herein. In anotherexample, the functionality of any of such components may be partitionedbetween the processor 501 and the communication subsystem 551. Inanother example, the non-computative-intensive functions of any of suchcomponents may be implemented in software or firmware and thecomputative-intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that embodiments hereinfurther include corresponding computer programs.

A computer program comprises instructions which, when executed on atleast one processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to carry outany of the respective processing described above. A computer program inthis regard may comprise one or more code modules corresponding to themeans or units described above.

Embodiments further include a carrier containing such a computerprogram. This carrier may comprise one of an electronic signal, opticalsignal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

In this regard, embodiments herein also include a computer programproduct stored on a non-transitory computer readable (storage orrecording) medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by aprocessor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform as describedabove.

Embodiments further include a computer program product comprisingprogram code portions for performing the steps of any of the embodimentsherein when the computer program product is executed by a computingdevice. This computer program product may be stored on a computerreadable recording medium.

Additional embodiments will now be described. At least some of theseembodiments may be described as applicable in certain contexts and/orwireless network types for illustrative purposes, but the embodimentsare similarly applicable in other contexts and/or wireless network typesnot explicitly described.

In one embodiment, the UE identifies multiple types of downlinktransmitted RSs and associates each transmitted data signal (i.e., fromgNB or UE) to be spatially QCL at the UE (i.e., the UE should use acertain RX beam) depending on the associated RS types. As one example,the broadcasted synchronization signal (SS block) and the UEspecifically configured CSI-RS are two RS types. When receiving thecommon search space PDCCH, the UE may assume the same analog RX beam aswhen it received the preferred SS block. When receiving the UE specificsearch space PDCCH, the UE may assume the same analog RX beam as when itreceived a certain configured CSI-RS.

In one embodiment, the UE may utilize that the transmitted or receivedsignal to be spatially QCL (e.g., used to determine receive beamdirection) with different types of reference signals transmitted fromthe gNB, depending on the type (e.g. common control, UE specificcontrol, dedicated data) of transmitted signal. QCL assumptions forreceiving control channels may include the following:

-   -   for receiving common search space PDCCH, the UE may assume that        the PDCCH DMRS is spatially QCL on the receiver (UE) side with a        RS belonging to a preferred and detected SS block; and    -   for receiving UE specific search space PDCCH, the UE may assume        that the PDCCH DMRS is spatially QCL on the receiver (UE) side        with a configured CSI-RS.

QCL assumptions for transmitting control channels may include:

-   -   for transmitting PRACH or beam failure recovery signals, the UE        should transmit in such a way that the transmitted signal is        spatially QCL on the UE side with a RS belonging to a preferred        and detected SS block

QCL assumptions for transmitting and receiving data channels mayinclude:

-   -   for transmitting PUSCH or receiving PDSCH, the UE should        transmit or receive in such a way that the signal is spatially        QCL on the UE side with a configured CSI-RS

One advantage of this solution is that the UE always knows how to directits beam when receiving and transmitting. This avoids the need for beamsweeping (i.e., searching for the signal by probing in differentdirections), which is costly in overhead and increases latency. Hence,this solution reduces latency and overhead in an NR network.

The gNB or transmission/reception points (TRPs) connected to a gNBtransmits one or multiple SS blocks in a broadcasted manner. In case ofmultiple SS blocks, each SS block may only cover a portion of the gNBcoverage area. The UE detects one of the SS blocks (e.g., in a transmitbeam from the gNB) using a receiver configuration and responds with arandom access channel (e.g., PRACH) transmission using a transmitterconfiguration that is similar to the receiver configuration. Theseconfigurations may be seen as beams, created by an analog beamformingnetwork in the UE. Hence, the UE receives an SS block using an analog RXbeam and then transmits the PRACH in the same beam (TX beam). One way todescribe this behavior is the state that the selected, or preferred SSblock is spatially QCL at the UE with the PRACH transmission.

Spatial QCL may be defined as having the same or essentially similardirection of arrival/departure or having the same or essentially similarspatial covariance coefficients.

SS blocks have typically a wide to medium beam width so that the gNBcoverage area may be covered with a few such SS block transmissions, toavoid excessive overhead. Thus, each SS block/beam covers multiple UEstypically, while for dedicated and UE-specific beams, one may configureCSI-RS. These CSI-RSs may be transmitted in very narrow beams, targetinga single UE, have high gain and used to transmit very high data rate to(or receive from) the UE.

A wider beam width implies greater robustness but lower antenna gaincompared to a narrow beam width.

For transmitted data or control from the gNB (e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH,respectively) it is beneficial for the UE if it knows the spatial QCLassumption relative to a previously transmitted signal or channel sothat it may adjust its receiver configuration such as analog RX beam.

Likewise, for transmitted data or control from the UE (e.g., PUSCH,PRACH, PUCCH or beam failure recovery signal), it is beneficial for thegNB if it knows the spatial QCL assumption relative to a previouslytransmitted signal or channel from gNB so that it may adjust itsreceiver configuration such as analog RX beam.

It is observed that some transmitted control channels are of broadcastnature and some of dedicated nature, for a given UE. Also, broadcastedsignals are more robust and may require less antenna gain. Broadcastedsignals are also targeting multiple UEs, so narrow beams should beavoided.

In one embodiment, a UE utilizes each transmitted or received secondsignal at the UE to be QCL (primarily spatially to e.g., used todetermine receive or transmit beam direction) with one of at least twodifferent types of a first signals transmitted from the gNB.

The first type of signal may be PSS or SSS. PBCH, TSS, or a combinationof these in a synchronization signal block of signals (SS block)

The second type of signal may be a PDCCH (and its associated DMRS)(either in group common, common or UE specific search spacerespectively) or PDSCH (and its associated DMRS) in the downlink andPUSCH (and its associated DMRS), PUCCH (and its associated DMRS) (shortPUCCH or long PUCCH respectively), PRACH or beam recovery signal in theuplink.

The UE utilizes the QCL association with the first signal to adjust thereceiver configuration such as the analog beamforming, or transmitterconfiguration also in form of analog beamforming to receive or transmitthe second signal.

In one embodiment, the UE makes the QCL association following specifiedrules depending on the types of first and second signals; hence, withoutexplicit signaling of which signal of a first type is associated with asignal of a second type.

In another embodiment, the UE uses the default QCL association followingspecified rules depending on the types of first and second signals;hence, without explicit signaling of which signal of a first type isassociated with a signal of a second type until the UE has beenexplicitly configured a dedicated signal of the first type to use as QCLassociation for a given signal of the second type.

Here follows some more detailed embodiments:

For receiving common search space or group common search space PDCCHtransmitted from gNB or TRP as the second type of signal, the UE mayassume that the PDCCH DMRS is spatially QCL on the receiver (UE) sidewith a first type of signal, as an RS belonging to a preferred anddetected SS block. It is assumed that the UE has detected a SS block,possible among multiple transmitted SS blocks from the gNB that may betransmitted from different TRPs and/or different beam directions from aTRP. This is denoted the preferred SS block. The network transmits thisPDCCH in the same or in a similar beam as it transmitted the SS block 2,so that the UE may use the same RX beam to receive common search spacePDCCH as it used to receive SS block 2.

For receiving UE specific search space PDCCH transmitted from gNB or TRPas a second type of signal, the UE may assume that the PDCCH DMRS as afirst type if signal is spatially QCL on the receiver (UE) side with aconfigured CSI-RS. It is assumed that the UE is configured or triggeredto measure on a CSI-RS resource and that CSI-RS resource is then used asa first type of signal. The network transmits the PDCCH in the same orsimilar beam as it previously transmitted the CSI-RS so that the UE mayuse the same RX beam to receive PDCCH as it received the CSI-RS.

In a further embodiment, the UE uses a QCL association rule such thatfor receiving UE specific search space PDCCH transmitted from gNB or TRPas a second type of signal, the UE may assume spatial QCL with asynchronization block of signals as an initial first type of signal, andthen upon the network (re-)configuring the UE to measure and reportsignal quality based on a CSI-RS resource, the UE may assume spatial QCLwith the configured CSI-RS as a different first type of signal.

In the above embodiment, the UE may assume the initial first type ofsignal as default, without explicit configuration after initial accessand until further notice, that is, until configured otherwise.

For transmitting PRACH or beam failure recovery signals as a second typeof signal from UE to gNB, the UE should transmit in such a way that thetransmitted signal is spatially QCL on the UE side with a RS belongingto a preferred and detected SS block similar to the embodiment describedabove. The UE thus transmits in the same beam as it used to receive theSS block and the network may then use the same beam to receive the PRACHas it used to receive the SS block. Alternatively, the SS block to usefor the spatial QCL assumption for PRACH or beam failure recovery signalmay be explicitly signaled to the UE from the gNB in a configurationmessage.

For transmitting PUSCH or receiving PDSCH as a second type of signal,the UE should transmit or receive in such a way that the signal isspatially QCL on the UE side with a configured CSI-RS as a first type ofsignal, where CSI-RS is similar as to described in the embodiment above.

FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of a method 600 for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device in awireless communication system in accordance with various aspects asdescribed herein. In FIG. 6, a network node 601 (e.g, gNB, TRP, or thelike) transmits two SS blocks 631, 633, and a wireless device 605 (e.g.,UE) detects SS block 2 633 as the preferred block (it may detect bothbut prefers SS block 2 as it has higher received power), as representedby block 611.

In FIG. 6, the UE 605 then transmits PRACH in PRACH resource 2 635,which is linked to SS block 2 (similarly SS block 1 has a differentPRACH resource 1 to be used in case the UE prefers SS block 1). Fromreceiving PRACH in resource 2 635, the network node 601 knows that thepreferred SS block is block 2 633 for the UE. The UE 605 stores theanalog beam used to receive SS block 2 633 as spatial QCL information“SS-QCL2.”

The network node 601 then transmits PDCCH in the common search space 637to the UE 605 using the same or similar beam as it used to transmit SSblock 2 633 and the UE 605 uses the “SS-QCL2” information to receive thecommon search space PDCCH 637.

The common search space PDCCH 637 may schedule a PDSCH (not shown in thefigure) that contains configuration information for the PDCCHUE-specific search space 641 and for CSI-RS resources 639 to use for CSIor beam management measurements. The UE 605 may feedback suchmeasurements using PUCCH or PUSCH (not shown in figure) and will in thiscase use the SS-QCL2 assumption for the PUCCH or PUSCH transmissions.Hence, the network node 601 knows in which RX beam to expect the uplinktransmission from the UE 605. Likewise, the PDSCH 643 that carries theconfiguration information mentioned above may also be transmittedassuming SS-QCL2 assumption so that the UE may configure the RX beam touse for the reception.

After the network node 601 has configured the UE 605 with a CSI-RS touse for UE specific search space PDCCH, PUSCH, and PDSCH, the CSI-RS 639will be used as spatial QCL reference for those signals instead of theSS-QCL2. Hence, when receiving those signals, the UE 605 will use thesame or similar RX beam as it used to receive the CSI-RS 639.Additionally, when transmitting PUSCH 645, the UE 605 will use the TXbeam associated with the CSI-RS 639.

At this stage, the UE 605 will use two spatial QCL assumptions,depending on which signal to receive or transmit. These QCL assumptionsare SS-QCL2 and CSI-RS, respectively. The UE will alternate betweenusing these two different spatial QCL assumptions depending on thesignal type to receive or transmit.

FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of a method 700 for determiningtransmitter and receiver configurations for a wireless device (e.g., UE)in a wireless communication system (e.g., 5G NR) in accordance withvarious aspects as described herein. In FIG. 7, the method 700 maystart, for instance, at block 701 where it may include receiving, from anetwork node (e.g., gNB), an indication of one of a plurality of QCLassumptions. Further, each QCL assumption associates a certain referencesignal reception by a wireless device with a transmission or receptionof a signal of a certain type by that wireless device. At block 703, themethod 700 includes obtaining the one of the plurality of QCLassumptions. Also, the method 700 includes transmitting or receiving asignal of a certain type using a transmitter or receiver configurationbased on the received QCL assumption that associates that signal with areference signal received by the wireless device, as represented byblock 705.

FIG. 8 illustrates a network node 800 as implemented in accordance withvarious embodiments as described herein. As shown, the network node 800includes processing circuitry 810 and communication circuitry 820. Thecommunication circuitry 820 is configured to transmit and/or receiveinformation to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g., via anycommunication technology. The processing circuitry 810 is configured toperform processing described above, such as by executing instructionsstored in memory 830. The processing circuitry 810 in this regard mayimplement certain functional means, units, or modules.

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of anetwork node 900 in a wireless network in accordance various embodimentsas described herein (for example, the network node shown in FIGS. 1 and6). In FIG. 9, the network node 900 implements various functional means,units, or modules (e.g., via the processing circuitry 810 in FIG. 8and/or via software code). In one embodiment, these functional means,units, or modules (e.g., for implementing the method(s) herein) mayinclude for instance: a QCL assumption obtaining unit 901 for obtainingone of a plurality of QCL assumptions; a QCL assumption determining unit903 for determining the one of the plurality of QCL assumptions for thewireless device; a transmitting unit 905 for transmitting, to thewireless device, an indication of the obtained QCL assumption or asignal of a certain type based on the obtained QCL assumption thatassociates that signal with a reference signal transmitted by thenetwork node to the wireless device; and a receiving unit 907 forreceiving, from the wireless device, a signal of a certain type based onthe obtained QCL assumption that associates that signal with a referencesignal transmitted by the network node to the wireless device.

FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of a method 1000 performed by anetwork node for selecting a cell for transmitting control informationin accordance with various embodiments described herein. In FIG. 10, themethod 1000 may start, for instance, at block 1001 where it may includedetermining one of a plurality of QCL assumptions for the wirelessdevice. Further, each assumption associates a certain reference signalreception by a wireless device with a transmission or reception of asignal of a certain type by that wireless device. Also, the method 1000includes obtaining the one of the plurality of QCL assumptions, asrepresented by block 1003. At block 1005, the method 1000 includestransmitting, to the wireless device, an indication of the obtained QCLassumption. In response, the method 1000 may include transmitting orreceiving, to or from the wireless device a signal of a certain typebased on the obtained QCL assumption that associates that signal with areference signal transmitted by the network node to the wireless device,as represented at block 1007.

Beam Management:

In NR, different system requirements associated with QCL may be applied.In a first example, an indication of QCL between the antenna ports oftwo CSI-RS resources is supported. By default, no QCL may be assumedbetween antenna ports of two CSI-RS resources. Partial QCL parameters(e.g., only spatial QCL parameter at UE side) may be considered. Fordownlink, NR supports CSI-RS reception with and without beam-relatedindication. When a beam-related indication is provided, informationpertaining to UE-side beamforming/receiving procedure used forCSI-RS-based measurement may be indicated through QCL to UE. Further,QCL information includes spatial parameter(s) for UE-side reception ofCSI-RS ports.

In a second example, NR-PDCCH transmission supports robustness againstbeam pair link blocking. A UE can be configured to monitor NR-PDCCH on Mbeam pair links simultaneously, where M≥1. The maximum value of M maydepend at least on UE capability. Also, a UE may choose at least onebeam out of M for NR-PDCCH reception. A UE can be configured to monitorNR-PDCCH on different beam pair link(s) in different NR-PDCCH OFDMsymbols. NR-PDCCH on one beam pair link may be monitored with shorterduty cycle than other beam pair link(s). This configuration may apply toscenarios where a UE may not have multiple RF chains. Parameters relatedto UE Rx beam setting for monitoring NR-PDCCH on multiple beam pairlinks are configured by higher layer signaling or Medium Access Control(MAC) Control Element (CE) or considered in the search space design.

In a third example, for reception of a unicast DL data channel, anindication of a spatial QCL assumption between DL RS antenna port(s) andDMRS antenna port(s) of DL data channel is supported. Informationindicating the RS antenna port(s) is indicated via Downlink ControlInformation (DCI) (downlink grants). The information indicates the RSantenna port(s) which is QCL'ed with DMRS antenna port(s). Further, theRS port/resource ID may be implicitly or explicitly indicated. In oneexample, the indication is assumed only for the scheduled PDSCH or untilnext indication. Further, a scheduling/beam switch offset may beincluded. Also, a beam indication for receiving fall back unicast PDSCHmay be included. In addition, the related signaling may be UE-specific.

Multiple Beam Pair Link (BPL) Handling:

The establishment and maintenance of multiple BPLs has several purposes.One purpose is for achieving PDCCH robustness, whereby the gNB cantransmit PDCCH on multiple beam pair links simultaneously or in TDMfashion (e.g., the second example above). Another use is to supportnon-coherent joint transmission (JT) or distributed multiple input,multiple output (D-MIMO), where different BPLs potentially carrydifferent PDSCHs. In either case, a beam-related indication is needed toassist UE-side beamforming (i.e., UE Rx beam selection).

Since the primary tool for maintaining (updating) beam pair links is UEmeasurement of multiple beam formed CSI-RS resources and subsequentfeedback of a resource selection, a beam pair link is by natureassociated with a previously transmitted CSI-RS resource. It isimportant to note that the terminology beam pair link (BPL) is a usefulconstruct for discussion; however, the term itself may not appear inindustry standards specifications. If not, then the salient feature thatcould be captured is that a BPL is defined as a link that has beenestablished between the gNB and the UE, where the UE has selected andreported to the eNB at least one preferred out of a number of CSI-RSresources, transmitted with different transmitter configurations (Txbeams) and where a preferred UE receiver configuration (Rx beam) hasbeen determined by the UE based on the selected CSI-RS resource.

Based on this, it follows automatically that a beam-related indicationis a reference to a previously transmitted CSI-RS resource on which theUE has performed a measurement. If the previously transmitted CSI-RSresource is indicated to the UE in association with a current DLtransmission (e.g., PDSCH, PDCCH, or CSI-RS), then the UE may use thatinformation to assist in UE-side beamforming. An equivalent statement isthat the current PDSCH DMRS, PDCCH DMRS, or CSI-RS transmission isspatially QCL at the UE RX with the previously transmitted CSI-RSresource referred to in the beam-related indication.

This clearly shows that the reference to the previously transmittedCSI-RS resource is precisely a QCL indication, consistent with the abovefirst example.

A problem is then how to refer to a previously transmitted CSI-RSresource. One approach could be that each CSI-RS resource has anidentifier (e.g., a timestamp in terms of radio frame number, slotnumber, and OFDM symbol number that can be used to uniquely identify theCSI-RS resource). However, such unique resource identification canconsume a large amount of overhead. This is undesirable considering thatthe beam-related indication can be dynamically signaled (e.g., throughDCI or MAC-CE). Another approach could be that a CSI-RS resource isalways associated with a unique Tx beam in the network, and thebeam-related indication to the UE uses that beam number. However, thenumber of beams could be a very large number, again leading to anoverhead problem.

Rather than relying on absolute timestamps or fixed beam numbers, analternative approach is to use a relative CSI-RS resource indicator orproxy to refer to a previously transmitted CSI-RS. Since the number ofmaintained BPLs could be quite small, the proxy indicator could havequite low overhead (e.g., two bits) allowing for the maintenance of upto four BPLs. One can think of the proxy as a “BPL tag.” Associated witheach BPL tag, is (1) the Tx configuration (Tx beam) corresponding to theUE-selected CSI-RS resource, and (2) the preferred UE receiverconfiguration (Rx beam) associated with the selected CSI-RS resource. Itis important to realize that all that is necessary is for the gNB toremember the Tx configuration (Tx beam) associated with the BPL tag andfor the UE to remember the Rx configuration (Rx beam) associated withthe BPL tag. The gNB does not have to know the UE Rx beam, nor does theUE need to know the gNB Tx beam. No absolute beam indices are required.That way, in the future, if a BPL tag is signaled to the UE along with aDL signal transmission (e.g., PDSCH or CSI-RS), the UE can retrieve theRx configuration that it used to receive the previously transmittedCSI-RS resource from its memory. This indication assists with UE-sidebeamforming to effectively receive the DL signal transmission.

To support downlink beam management, three procedures, the P1, P2 and P3procedures, may be applied. In the P2 procedure, the transmitter sendsthe same reference signal multiple times (e.g., in different OFDMsymbols) and each time in a different beam direction (e.g., differentmulti-antenna precoding weights). This is called a transmitterbeam-sweep. The UE keep the RX beam unchanged during this beam-sweep andthe UE can then report which one of these multiple beams it prefers. Inthe P3 procedure, the transmitter sends the same reference signalmultiple times (e.g., in different OFDM symbols) and each time in thesame beam direction. The receiver may then change its receiver beamdirection (e.g., different multi-antenna receiver weights) in eachoccasion and hence, evaluate which is the preferred receive beam forthat particular transmit beam. Lastly, the P1 procedure is a combinationof the P2 and P3 procedures, where both the transmitter and receiver areallowed to alter their beams during the beam sweep. I

One important use case for BPL tags is during the update (refinement) ofa particular BPL, say the one with tag #b. As already discussed, thisBPL with tag #b is associated with a CSI-RS resource on which the UEpreviously measured. The BPL can be updated, for example, with the P2procedure. In this case, the gNB can trigger the UE to measure andreport on an aperiodic CSI-RS beam sweep. The DCI message carrying themeasurement and reporting trigger, should also include the BPL tag #b.With this indication, the UE look-up from memory what Rx configuration(Rx beam) is currently associated with tag #b, and it is free to usethis information to assist in receiving the transmitted CSI-RSresources. The signaling of tag #b is equivalent to a QCL indicationthat says that the currently transmitted CSI-RS resources are spatiallyQCL at the UE RX with the previously transmitted CSI-RS resourceassociated with tag #b. As previously mentioned, to support up to fourBPLs (e.g., b∈{0,1,2,3}), only two bits are needed in the DCI message,which uniquely indicates the previously transmitted CSI-RS resource.

The associated aperiodic CSI report will indicate a preferred CSI-RSresource through a Contention Resolution Identifier (CRI). The CSI-RSresource corresponding to this CRI is now the new, updated CSI-RSassociated with tag #b. The gNB stores the Tx configuration (Tx beam)associated with tag #b in memory for future use. This could be used, forexample, to ensure that a future aperiodic CSI-RS beam sweep includesthe “old” Tx beam to be used as a reference against which the UE willcompare potential new Tx beams.

Alternatively, the BPL with tag #b can be updated with a P3 procedure.In this case, the gNB can trigger the UE to measure and report on anumber of CSI-RS resources for which the Tx configuration (Tx beam) isheld fixed. The fixed Tx beam is the one already associated with tag #b.Again, the DCI message carrying the measurement trigger should includethe BPL tag #b. However, the UE also needs to be informed that it shouldassume that the currently transmitted CSI-RS resources are not spatiallyQCL at the UE RX with the previously transmitted CSI-RS resourceassociated with tag #b. This could be done through a separate (one bit)flag to inform the UE whether or not this is a beam sweep using the P3procedure. This flag may be signaled to the UE dynamically or configuredthrough higher layers (e.g., within the CSI framework). Either way, whenthis flag is set to FALSE, the UE should not use the Rx configuration(Rx beam) that it used to receive the previous CSI-RS resource, sincethe purpose of the P3 beam sweep is for the UE to try new Rx beams, nothold its Rx beam fixed. Once the preferred Rx beam is found, the UEshould remember the associated Rx configuration and associate this withtag #b. Since the Tx configuration (Tx beam) remains fixed, there is noneed to associate a new CSI-RS with tag #b, nor is there a need for theUE to report CRI. However, the gNB can still configure the UE to reportother CSI components (e.g., Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Pre-codingMatrix Indicator (PMI), Rank Index (RI)) to support link adaptation.

The following two embodiments support beam management procedures toestablish and maintain multiple BPLs between the gNB and a UE. Bytriggering multiple beam sweeps with different BPL tags, the reportedmeasurements for each BPL allows the gNB to associate a UE-preferred gNBTx beam for each BPL tag and allows the UE to associate a preferred UERx beam for each BPL tag. Hence, up to four BPLs can be established bythe use of a two bit BPL tag.

In one embodiment, in an aperiodic CSI-RS beam sweep, to be able toreference a previously transmitted CSI-RS resource for spatial QCLpurposes, the measurement and reporting trigger (e.g., in DCI) containsa BPL tag using two bits.

In another embodiment, in an aperiodic transmission of multiple CSI-RSresources in which the gNB keeps its Tx beam constant (e.g., P3procedure), the UE should receive a one bit flag set to FALSE toindicate that the CSI-RS resources are not spatially QCL with apreviously transmitted CSI-RS resource. This flag may be signaleddynamically, or if it is configured by higher layers, then this flag maybe signaled as part of the CSI framework.

In parallel to the procedures for establishing and maintaining multipleBPLs, the UE can be configured with at least one BPL for PDCCHmonitoring. The BPL the UE shall use for receiving PDCCH is configuredby indicating the associated two bit BPL tag (e.g., through higher layersignaling). Alternatively, it could be specified that in the case ofPDCCH monitoring of only a single BPL, that BPL tag 0 is always used.According to the second example above, M BPLs can be configured forPDCCH monitoring, either simultaneously or in a TDM fashion. In thiscase, the UE should be configured with M two bit BPL tags.

In one embodiment, a UE can be configured to monitor NR-PDCCH on M beampair links, where each beam pair link is indicated by a BPL tag usingtwo bits.

Another use case for BPL tags is for data transmission (e.g., differentPDSCHs from different TRPs; or non-coherent JT or D-MIMO, wheredifferent BPLs potentially carry different PDSCHs). A BPL tag includedwith the scheduling DCI assists the UE-side beamforming for receivingthe corresponding PDSCH.

In one embodiment, in a PDSCH transmission, the associated DCI containsa BPL tag using two bits that indicates that the DMRS for PDSCH isspatially QCL with the previously transmitted CSI-RS resource associatedwith the BPL tag.

From the above, beam management consists of three rather independentprocesses:

(1) establishment and maintenance of multiple BPLs, each identified witha two bit BPL tag;

(2) the BPL(s) to use for control channel; and

(3) the BPL(s) used for data channel.

While the BPLs are considered independent, when a BPL TX and RX beam isupdated in the measurement process, it reflects the beams that can beused for the control channels and the data channels that use the BPL aswell.

Group-Based Beam Reporting:

Another issue is related to set/group based reporting, which can beuseful for UEs that are able to support simultaneous reception on two ormore beam pair links (BPLs). This UE capability can be a result of a UEequipped with two or more antenna panels with separate receive chain(s).One working assumption is that NR should support at least one of twoalternatives for such reporting: set-based reporting and/or group-basedreporting.

Another issue is related to overhead. Reporting beam-related informationon multiple sets/groups of beams of course incurs extra feedbackoverhead compared to single-beam reporting. For instance, set andgroup-based reporting can offer the gNB the same flexibility inselecting amongst Tx beams that may be received simultaneously at theUE; however, for equal flexibility, the feedback overhead for set-basedreporting can be larger than group-based reporting.

Another overhead consideration is beam-related indication in thedownlink (e.g., QCL indication to support UE-side beamforming when beamsfrom different sets are groups are selected for transmission). Like forthe uplink overhead, there may be differences in overhead between setand group-based reporting when the gNB would like to select multiplebeams for transmission within a set or across groups.

QCL FOR DL RS:

With respect to QCL for DL RS, different system requirements associatedwith QCL may be applied. In a first example, DMRS ports grouping may besupported, with DMRS ports within one group being QCL'ed, and DMRS portsin different groups being non-QCL'ed. DMRS may be grouped according tocontinuous wave (CW) analog beams, or the like. Further, the QCLindication may be signaled using, for instance, radio resource control(RRC), MAC CE, DCI, or the like. Also, a DMRS may be used to estimate oflarge scale properties of a channel such as Doppler shift, Dopplerspread, delay spread, or the like. In addition, QCL supportsfunctionalities such as beam management (e.g., spatial parameters),frequency/timing offset estimation (e.g., Doppler/delay parameters),radio resource management (RRM) (e.g., average gain). Moreover, if theUE scheduled more than one PDSCH in a slot (this is the typicalmulti-TRP case using e.g., non-coherent JT), then the DMRS in the firstand second PDSCH may not be QCL'ed.

In a second example, an indication of a QCL assumption associated with asubset of QCL parameters between antenna ports of two RS resources maybe supported based on various alternatives. These alternatives mayinclude at least one of (1) which of the subset of QCL parameters areconfigured by gNB, (2) which QCL type is configured by gNB wheremultiple QCL types are pre-defined, and (3) which QCL types arepre-defined.

In a third example, the UE is not indicated by default. Accordingly,antenna port(s) transmitted on different CCs are not assumed to beQCL'ed.

In a fourth example, an indication of QCL assumption for CSI-RS may beassociated with an SS block such as (e.g., SSS, PBCH DMRS (if defined)),RS for fine time-frequency tracking (if it's not CSI-RS), or the like.

In one embodiment, DMRS belonging to different PDSCH scheduling in thesame slot are by default not QCL. Hence, the DMRS in one PDSCH is thefirst group and DMRS in the other PDSCH is the second group.

When it comes to non-QCL DMRS groups within a single PDSCH, the intendeduse case would be the multi-TRP transmission for the general QCLparameter case or the multibeam transmission from a single TRP for thespatial QCL case. The latter then holds for UEs with analog beamforming(due to the use of spatial QCL), which has the capability to receivemore than one beam at the same time. As a baseline, dual PDSCHscheduling may be used for this case.

gNB implementation of very wide bandwidths compared to LTE may useindependent calibration circuits, clocks and oscillators per CC. Hence,beam management procedures and thus spatial QCL per carrier may beoperated independently.

In one embodiment, beam management and thus sQCL assumptions operateindependently per component carrier.

QCL between SS Block, RAR and PDCCH DMRS:

This section focuses on spatial QCL, to aid the beam management formillimeter (mm)-wave operation, while there is a more general QCLdiscussion needed for other QCL parameters such as average delay,average gain, Doppler, or the like, and whether to link CSI-RS to theRS(s) used for fine channel tracking using QCL. The UE will detect an SSblock which may have sector coverage (in case of a single SS block perTRP) or rather wide beam width (in case of a few SS blocks per TRP).Which SS block the UE has detected is known through the initial accessprocedure (i.e., related to the used PRACH preamble resource). The SSblock beams are not expected to be very narrow in beam width at leastnot in the normal case, since it has problems with, for example,overhead (although a large number of SS blocks may be allowed in specsto support extreme coverage cases where overhead is not the largestconcern).

A self-contained random access response (RAR) is used, and the RAR maybe spatially QCL at the UE with the detected SS block if indicated inthe PBCH. It is reasonable to transmit initial PDCCH by default in thesame beam as the detected RAR; and thus, also the SS block, if indicatedby PBCH. The default PDCCH allows the gNB to configure the UE with, forexample, CSI-RS for beam management.

In one embodiment, the UE may assume by default that the PDCCH DMRS isspatial QCL with the detected SS block if indicated in the broadcastedPBCH. This default spatial QCL may be overridden by UE specific anddedicated RRC signaling.

For PDSCH and possibly also PDCCH on the other hand, narrowest possiblebeams may be used and those beams may be selected and managed by beammanagement using dedicated CSI-RS measurements. Hence, in this case, thePDCCH and PDSCH may be configured to be spatially QCL with the CSI-RSresource indicated in the beam management procedure (beam indication).Depending on the channel to receive, the UE may utilize differentspatial QCL assumptions, for example, PDCCH with the detected andpreferred SS block (SS-QCL), PDCCH with a configured CSI-RS(CSI-RS-QCL), or the like.

QCL Between CSI-RS Resources:

QCL between antenna ports of two CSI-RS resources may be supported.Further, the dynamic indication of gNB and UE side partial QCLassumptions between the CSI-RS beam sweeps P1 and P2/P3 may besupported. Hence, when triggering an aperiodic CSI-RS beam sweep andassociated aperiodic CSI report containing CRI, the triggering DCI maycontain a reference to a previously transmitted CSI-RS resource so thatthe UE may utilize this information to tune its RX beam.

Moreover, a proxy such as the beam pair link (BPL) identity may be usedwhen referring to a previous CSI-RS resource. Hence, when triggering aP2/P3, then a BPL index is included in the triggering DCI and that BPLis in turn linked to a certain CSI-RS resource that the UE has measuredand reported on at a previous point in time.

In one embodiment, the dynamic indication in DCI of spatial QCLassumptions between CSI-RS resources when triggering a CSI-RSmeasurement for beam management is supported.

QCL FOR UL RS:

With respect to QCL for UL RS, different system requirements may beapplied. NR may support with and without a downlink indication to deriveQCL assumption for assisting UE-side beamforming for downlink controlchannel reception. This indication may be signaled using, for instance,DCI, MAC CE, RRC, or the like. Further, a beam-related indication may beused for DL control and data channels. Further, for downlink, NR maysupport beam management with and without beam-related indications. Whena beam-related indication is provided, information pertaining to UE-sidebeamforming/receiving procedure used for data reception may be indicatedthrough QCL to UE. Tx/Rx beam correspondence at TRP and UE may bedefined. In one example, Tx/Rx beam correspondence at TRP holds if atleast one of the following is satisfied: TRP is able to determine a TRPRx beam for the uplink reception based on UE's downlink measurement onTRP's one or more Tx beams, and TRP is able to determine a TRP Tx beamfor the downlink transmission based on TRP's uplink measurement on TRP'sone or more Rx beams. In another example, Tx/Rx beam correspondence atUE holds if at least one of the following is satisfied: UE is able todetermine a UE Tx beam for the uplink transmission based on UE'sdownlink measurement on UE's one or more Rx beams, and UE is able todetermine a UE Rx beam for the downlink reception based on TRP'sindication based on uplink measurement on UE's one or more Tx beams.

For non-codebook based UL transmission, frequency selective precodingfor Cyclic Prefix (CP)-OFDM is supported when the number of transmissionports is greater than a predetermined number such as two ports, threeports, four ports, or the like. Further, the indication of DLmeasurement RS is supported to allow the UE to calculate candidateprecoder. Also, the mechanisms for UL precoder determination may bebased on precoded SRS, non-precoded SRS, hybrid precoded, non-precodedSRS, or the like.

For nodes that have reciprocity-calibrated transmitter and receiverchains, it may be known when a signal that will be received is thereciprocal response to another signal that was transmitted earlier orvice versa. That is, assuming a node with analog beamforming istransmitting an SRS or a PRACH with some analog beam, when receiving aresponse to the sounding or PRACH, the UE may expect the response toarrive through the reciprocal channel, for which the receiver beam couldfavorably be the same beam as was used for the reciprocal transmission.Likewise, the PRACH transmission may be a response to a received SSblock or a mobility RS. Hence, the spatial QCL framework could beextended to also cover the use case of reciprocal responses for analogbeamforming by defining the received signal to be reciprocally quasico-located with the transmitted signal or vice versa.

In one embodiment, reciprocal spatial quasi co-location is supported ata node, where a signal received at a node and a transmitted signal fromthe same node, are spatially QCL.

In particular, when beam correspondence holds at the UE, which likelymay be a default operation, then the UE may be signaled to transmitprecoded SRS or a precoded PUSCH or PUCCH in the same direction as ithas received a certain CSI-RS.

In one embodiment, reciprocal spatial QCL is supported at the UE betweenthe reception of an SS block or a CSI-RS resource and a transmittedsignal such as an SRS resource, PUCCH, or PUSCH.

This will ensure that a gNB knows the receive spatial correlation of asignal transmitted from the UE; thus, the gNB can adapt its receiveraccordingly. For non-codebook based UL transmission of data (i.e., whereprecoding is decided by the UE), the indication of DL measurement RS maybe supported so that the UE may calculate the candidate precoder.

In one embodiment, in UL transmission scheme B, a DL indication defineswhich CSI-RS is reciprocally and spatially QCL with the scheduled PUSCHand PUCCH DMRS. This signaling may be at least included in the DCIcarrying the UL grant. UL transmission scheme B is channelreciprocity-based uplink. Further, the UE may determine the precoder onits own. UL transmission scheme B may also be referred to as anon-codebook uplink transmission scheme.

Moreover, when there is a problem with uplink interference where many UEtransmit up-link data and sounding at the same time and the network isdense (e.g., many gNBs in a small area), it is beneficial to reduceuplink interference by using uplink precoding based on channelreciprocity.

In one embodiment, suppression of uplink interference is supportedtowards victim gNB using precoded transmitted signals from the UE, bydefining that the transmission is not spatially QCL (in reciprocalsense) with the reception of a CSI-RS resource transmitted from a victimTRP or gNB. The transmitted signal may be, for example, PUSCH, PUCCH,SRS, or the like. Again, additional explicit signaling may be needed toindicate which CSI-RS resource are victim and which are desired.

ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Explanation

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

5G 5th Generation mobile networks or wireless systems

BS Base Station

CE Control Element

CP Cyclic Prefix

CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

CRS Cell Specific Reference Signal

CSI Channel State Information

CSI-RS Channel state information reference signal

CSS Common Search Space

DL Downlink

DMRS Demodulation reference signal

eNB Evolved Node B (i.e., base station)

E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

DFT Discrete Fourier Transform

FDD Frequency Division Duplex

IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform

IoT Internet of Things

LTE Long Term Evolution

MAC Medium Access Control

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

MSR Multi-Standard Radio

MTC Machine-Type Communication

NB Narrow-Band

NB-IoT Narrow-Band Internet of Things

NB-LTE Narrow-Band LTE (e.g., 180 KHz bandwidth)

NB-PBCH NB-IoT Physical Broadcast Channel

NB-PSS NB-IoT Primary Synchronization Sequence

NB-SSS NB-IoT Secondary Synchronization Sequence

OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation

OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation Access

PA Power Amplifier

PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio

PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

PDCCH Physical Data Control Channel

PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)

PDU Protocol Data Unit

PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

PRB Physical Resource Block

PSD Power Spectral Density

PSS Primary Synchronization Sequence

PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

RACH Random Access Channel

RAT Radio Access Technology

RBR Recommended Bit Rate

RF Radio Frequency

RRC Radio Resource Control

RS Reference signal

RX Receiver

SoC System-on-a-Chip

SC-FDMA Single-Carrier, Frequency Division Multiple Access

SFBC Space Frequency Block Coding

SIB System Information Block

SIM Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identification Module

SNR Signal to Noise Ratio

SRS Sounding Reference Signal

SS Synchronization Signal

SSS Secondary Synchronization Sequence

TDD Time Division Duplex

TSS Tertiary synchronization signal or Time synchronization signal

TX Transmitter

UE User Equipment

UL Uplink

USS UE-specific Search Space

WB-LTE Wideband LTE (i.e., corresponds to legacy LTE)

ZC Zadoff-Chu algorithm

The various aspects described herein may be implemented using standardprogramming or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware,hardware (e.g., circuits), or any combination thereof to control acomputing device to implement the disclosed subject matter. It will beappreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one or moregeneric or specialized processors such as microprocessors, digitalsignal processors, customized processors and field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs) and unique stored program instructions (including bothsoftware and firmware) that control the one or more processors toimplement, in conjunction with certain non-processor circuits, some,most, or all of the functions of the methods, devices and systemsdescribed herein. Alternatively, some or all functions could beimplemented by a state machine that has no stored program instructions,or in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), inwhich each function or some combinations of certain of the functions areimplemented as custom logic circuits. Of course, a combination of thetwo approaches may be used. Further, it is expected that one of ordinaryskill, notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many designchoices motivated by, for example, available time, current technology,and economic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The term “article of manufacture” as used herein is intended toencompass a computer program accessible from any computing device,carrier, or media. For example, a computer-readable medium may include:a magnetic storage device such as a hard disk, a floppy disk or amagnetic strip; an optical disk such as a compact disk (CD) or digitalversatile disk (DVD); a smart card; and a flash memory device such as acard, stick or key drive. Additionally, it should be appreciated that acarrier wave may be employed to carry computer-readable electronic dataincluding those used in transmitting and receiving electronic data suchas electronic mail (e-mail) or in accessing a computer network such asthe Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of course, a person ofordinary skill in the art will recognize many modifications may be madeto this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of thesubject matter of this disclosure.

Throughout the specification and the embodiments, the following termstake at least the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. Relational terms such as “first” and“second,” and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity oraction from another entity or action without necessarily requiring orimplying any actual such relationship or order between such entities oractions. The term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” unlessspecified otherwise or clear from the context to be directed to anexclusive form. Further, the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended tomean one or more unless specified otherwise or clear from the context tobe directed to a singular form. The term “include” and its various formsare intended to mean including but not limited to. References to “oneembodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,” “variousembodiments,” and other like terms indicate that the embodiments of thedisclosed technology so described may include a particular function,feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodimentnecessarily includes the particular function, feature, structure, orcharacteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrase “in one embodiment”does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may. Theterms “substantially,” “essentially,” “approximately,” “about” or anyother version thereof, are defined as being close to as understood byone of ordinary skill in the art, and in one nonlimiting embodiment theterm is defined to be within 10%, in another embodiment within 5%, inanother embodiment within 1% and in another embodiment within 0.5%. Adevice or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configuredin at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are notlisted.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method performed by a wireless device ina wireless communications system, comprising: transmitting, by thewireless device, a first signal of a first type using a firsttransmitter configuration based on a first quasi co-location (QCL)assumption associating the first signal with a first reference signalreceived by the wireless device; and transmitting, by the wirelessdevice, a second signal of a second type using a second transmitterconfiguration based on a second QCL assumption associating the secondsignal with a second reference signal received by the wireless device,wherein the second type is different from the first type, wherein thefirst QCL assumption is a spatial relation between the first referencesignal received by the wireless device and transmission of the firstsignal of the first type by the wireless device, and wherein the secondQCL assumption is a spatial relation between the second reference signalreceived by the wireless device and transmission of the second signal ofthe second type by the wireless device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the first reference signal is a broadcasted reference signal andthe second reference signal is a user equipment (UE)-specific configuredreference signal.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the broadcastedreference signal is a reference signal in a synchronization signal (SS)block and the UE-specific reference signal is a channel stateinformation reference signal (CSI-RS).
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe first signal is a common signal and the second signal is a userequipment (UE)-specific signal.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst and second signals are user equipment (UE) specific signals. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein the first reference signal is a referencesignal in a preferred synchronization signal (SS) block and the firstsignal is a common search space or a group common search space of aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH).
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the first reference signal is a reference signal in a preferredsynchronization signal (SS) block and the first signal is a userequipment (UE) specific search space of a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH).
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second referencesignal is a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) and thesecond signal is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for a userequipment (UE) specific search space of a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH).
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second referencesignal is a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) and thesecond signal is a user equipment (UE) specific search space of aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH).
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the second reference signal is a reference signal (RS) in apreferred synchronization signal (SS) block and the second signal is aphysical random access channel (PRACH) signal or a beam failure recoverysignal.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second reference signalis a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) and the secondsignal is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the second reference signal is a channelstate information reference signal (CSI-RS) and the second signal is aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).
 13. The method of claim 1,wherein the second reference signal is a channel state informationreference signal (CSI-RS) and the second signal is a physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH) signal.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst receiver configuration corresponds to a beam direction used toreceive the first reference signal.
 15. The method of claim 1, whereinthe second transmitter configuration corresponds to a beam directionused to receive the second reference signal.
 16. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining the first transmitter configurationbased on the first QCL assumption.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinsaid determining the first transmitter configuration includesdetermining a transmit precoder to enable the transmission of the firstsignal based on receive beamforming weights that enabled the receptionof the first reference signal.
 18. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining the second transmitter configuration based onthe second QCL assumption.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein saiddetermining the second transmitter con-figuration includes determining atransmit precoder to enable the transmission of the second signal basedon receive beamforming weights that enabled the reception of the secondreference signal.
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, by the wireless device, from a network node, an indication ofthe first or second QCL assumption.
 21. The method of claim 20, whereinsaid receiving the indication is by at least one of radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling, medium access control element (MAC-CE)signaling, and downlink control information (DCI) signaling.
 22. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the wirelessdevice, the first and second reference signals.
 23. A wireless device,comprising: at least one processor and a memory, the memory comprisinginstructions executable by the at least one processor whereby thewireless device is configured to: transmit a first signal of a firsttype using a first transmitter configuration based on a first quasico-location (QCL) assumption associating the first signal with a firstreference signal received by the wireless device; and transmit a secondsignal of a second type using a second transmitter configuration basedon a second QCL assumption associating the second signal with a secondreference signal received by the wireless device, wherein the secondtype is different from the first type, wherein the first QCL assumptionis a spatial relation between the first reference signal received by thewireless device and transmission of the first signal of the first typeby the wireless device, and wherein the second QCL assumption is aspatial relation between the second reference signal received by thewireless device and transmission of the second signal of the second typeby the wireless device.
 24. A method performed by a wireless device in awireless communications system, comprising: obtaining a plurality ofquasi co-location (QCL) assumptions, with each assumption associating acertain reference signal reception by the wireless device with atransmission of a signal of a certain type by that wireless device; andtransmitting a signal of a certain type using a transmitterconfiguration based on the received QCL assumption that associates thatsignal with a reference signal received by the wireless device, whereinthe plurality of QCL assumptions comprise: a first QCL assumption thatis a spatial relation between a first reference signal received by thewireless device and transmission of the first signal of a first type bythe wireless device, and a second QCL assumption that is a spatialrelation between a second reference signal received by the wirelessdevice and transmission of the second signal of a second type by thewireless device, and wherein the second type is different from the firsttype.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein said obtaining includes:receiving, from a network node, an indication of the one of theplurality of QCL assumptions.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein theindication includes a subset of QCL parameters.
 27. A wireless device,comprising: at least one processor and a memory, the memory comprisinginstructions executable by the at least one processor whereby thewireless device is configured to: obtain a plurality of quasico-location (QCL) assumptions, with each assumption associating acertain reference signal reception by a wireless device with atransmission or reception of a signal of a certain type by that wirelessdevice; and transmit a signal of a certain type using a transmitterconfiguration based on the received QCL assumption that associates thatsignal with a reference signal received by the wireless device, whereinthe plurality of QCL assumptions comprise: a first QCL assumption thatis a spatial relation between a first reference signal received by thewireless device and transmission of the first signal of a first type bythe wireless device, and a second QCL assumption that is a spatialrelation between a second reference signal received by the wirelessdevice and transmission of the second signal of a second type by thewireless device, and wherein the second type is different from the firsttype.
 28. A method performed by a network node in a wirelesscommunications system, comprising: obtaining a plurality of quasico-location (QCL) assumptions, with each assumption associating acertain reference signal reception by a wireless device with atransmission of a signal of a certain type by that wireless device; andtransmitting, to the wireless device, an indication of the obtained QCLassumption, wherein the plurality of QCL assumptions comprise: a firstQCL assumption that is a spatial relation between a first referencesignal received by the wireless device and transmission of the firstsignal of a first type by the wireless device, and a second QCLassumption that is a spatial relation between a second reference signalreceived by the wireless device and transmission of the second signal ofa second type by the wireless device, and wherein the second type isdifferent from the first type.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein saidobtaining includes: determining the plurality of QCL assumptions for thewireless device.
 30. The method of claim 28, further comprising:receiving, by the network node, to or from the wireless device, thesignal of the certain type based on the obtained QCL assumption thatassociates that signal with the reference signal transmitted by thenetwork node to the wireless device.
 31. A network node, comprising: atleast one processor and a memory, the memory comprising instructionsexecutable by the at least one processor whereby the network node isconfigured to: obtain a plurality of quasi co-location (QCL) assumptionsfor a wireless device, with each assumption associating a certainreference signal reception by a wireless device with a transmission of asignal of a certain type by that wireless device; and transmit, to thewireless device, an indication of the obtained QCL assumption, whereinthe plurality of QCL assumptions comprise: a first QCL assumption thatis a spatial relation between a first reference signal received by thewireless device and transmission of the first signal of a first type bythe wireless device, and a second QCL assumption that is a spatialrelation between a second reference signal received by the wirelessdevice and transmission of the second signal of a second type by thewireless device, and wherein the second type is different from the firsttype.